Achievement

IGERT Fellow Jonathan Alden produced the world’s thinnest balloon: a graphene membrane only one atom thick that sealed a small chamber of gas. Working with his collaborators, he showed that this membrane can withstand pressures of at least a few atmospheres. Interestingly, even the one-atom-thick membranes are impermeable to standard gases, including helium. By measuring the vibrations of the balloon, Alden was able to determine their mass and mechanical properties. These balloons have many potential applications. For example, Alden showed that these devices could potentially detect the adsorption of atoms or molecules onto the surface of the membrane -- the basis of a highly sensitive mass detector. These films may also be ideal windows for certain types of very sensitive microscopes, such as electron microscopes, that only work in vacuum. For example, an atomically-thin window might allow an electron microscope to see living cells which can only thrive in a watery environment.